Malad
Malad is a suburb, 34 km north of Mumbai, India. It is also the name of the railway station on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Western Line, located in the Malad suburb. History In the 19th century, Malad constituted of Orlem (also known as Valnai) which was a hamlet of just about 12 families. In 1880, Fr. Joseph Maria Braz de Souza built a private chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes at Orlem. In 1882, the chapel was officially declared a part of the Apostolate of Bombay and affiliated to the church of Our Lady of Assumption, Kandivali. Later, Fr. Justin built the first school, the St Anne's High School, in 1915. Through his efforts, Orlem was constituted as a separate parish in a decree dated July 2, 1916. Other traditionally ancient settlements in Malad were villages occupied by the local East-Indian Community, Bhandari and Kolis who are known to be the original native inhabitants of Mumbai . These villages include Kharodi, Rathodi, Malwani, Marve, Aksa Village, Madh and so on. All of these above villages are recognised as an integral part of St. Anthony's Church/Parish which is older than the Our Lady of Lourdes Church/Parish. This can also be seen by noticing the ancient architectural structure of St. Anthony's Church, Malwani. The term 'Malwani' is often mistaken to be the stretch between BMC Colony Gate No. 1 and Gate No. 8 and further extending to MHADA Colony but factually it is only supposed to include BMC Colony, which was populated recently on the outskirts of ancient Malwani area which used to have mangroves, salt-pans and Agricultural land belonging to the local east-Indians of Kharodi Village. Whereas the real Malwani Village is till date located at the place we now call as Malwani Church on Marve Road. Many families like the Kolis, Vaitys, Bhandaris and the Kenis are old residents. In 1934, Bombay Talkies, the first movie company to be founded in India, was established in Malad by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani. In 1955, St. Joseph's School was established by Ms. Bertha Pereira. Originally, much of the land in the west was owned by East Indian Catholic families and was used primarily for agriculture. In the 1970s many of them sold their lands to real estate developers. One of the school famous since 18th century in middle of Malwani village area which is located in between Malwani colony & Marve named St. Anthonys High School. The area is located with all fisherman and East Indian community. Prahladrai Dalmia Lions College of Commerce and Economics is the oldest commerce college in the western (beyond Andheri) suburbs of Mumbai. It was established in the year 1972. Demographics Malad, in keeping with the diverse nature of Mumbai, has a mix of people from all over India. The original Inhabitants are the Koli community, which thrived in pockets, such as Marve, Malwani, Madh and Manori Island. Apart from the Koli community the suburban town has a large East Indian Community. Following Christianity's arrival large numbers of the residents were converted to Christianity. During the late 1960s influxes of immigrants, mainly South Indians, Gujaratis and Mainland Marathis diversified the demographics of the region. The 80's and 90's saw major population growth. The Malwani Colony supposedly is home to one of Mumbai's largest Muslim populations. It was heavily polarised during the 1992 riots. The latest immigrants have been from UP, Bihar and many from Orissa and W. Bengal. 'Neighbourhoods and Localities' The major localities in Malad are Chincholi Bunder Road, Mind Space complex, Marve Road (INS Hamla - Navy catering training establishment), Liberty Garden, Navy Nagar, Orlem, Jankalyan Nagar, Malwani Village, Kharodi Village and so on. Sunder Nagar is on border of Malad and Goregaon. Some of the major localities in Malad (West) are Chincholi Village, Orlem (originally called Valnai in Marathi), Evershine Nagar and Jankalyan Nagar. Chincholi Bunder Road or Chincholi Village is the oldest natives of Malad since 1845 and has historically housed the fisherman (Koli community). The Chincholi Bunder Road has 6 Schools (St. Mary High School, Infant Jesus High School, Municipal School, Balaji International School, Dr. S. Radhakrishna Vidyalaya, D.G. Khetan International School) and 1 College (Smt. K.G. Mittal College). 3 Malls (Inorbit, Evershine Mall, Infinity ). Chincholi Bunder Road lies to the west of Swami Vivekanand Road (S.V. Road), it connects S.V. Road and Link Road and ends at Malad Creek. Adjacent to Chincholi Bunder there is a market called Somwar (Monday) Bazaar, located in the Chincholi area. As the name suggests, this bazaar is active only on Mondays. The locality is named after the Somwar bazaar. Unique products are sold at this bazaar by sellers from various parts of the state of Maharashtra. Pathanwadi is a locality in Malad East that is on the other side of the National Highway No. 8, away from Malad Railway Station. The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking provides a bus service to the station with a mini-bus because of the narrow road. Pathanwadi is famous for its multiple Masjids. To the west, bordering it, is Dindoshi Nagar, a residential locality. Recently these localities have seen major infrastructure development, for example Dindoshi Fire Station and many malls such as the Oberoi Mall and Shagun Mall, to name a few. Sunder Nagar is a locality in Malad that lies along the west side of Swami Vivekanand Road. The area was built up in the 1970s and is primarily composed of many housing complexes, typically two bedroom apartments. There are two schools, (Umedbhai Patel English School,and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Vidyalaya), one college (Prahldrai Dalmia's Lions College) and a large garden in the limited area. The housing blocks are typically named alphabetically, starting from A up to V. It borders Mandlik Nagar on the North and some defunct factories on the south. Malad East North end just begins from Datta Mandir Junction at Times of India Suburban Press on W.E.Highway. Malad East has housing colonies like Raheja Complex, Raheja Township, Govind Nagar, Mahindra Nagar, and Pratap Nagar. Mahindra Nagar is a clean and green society, which was nominated as the second most pollution-free area in Mumbai by Eureka Forbes after Aarey Colony in Goregaon. Malad East has Daftary Road, which runs across from the station on the East up till the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway and this is one of the most congested roads in Mumbai's suburbs. Malad East also boasts of quite a few old running schools such as Mahindra Academy, Fatimadevi, Children's Academy, Nutan Vidyalay, Utkarsh Mandir, Velani Vidyalaya High School, St. Francis English Medium High School, Mangesh Vidhya Mandir, Adarsh Vidya Mandir High School both English and Hindi, High Sanskar Vidyalay. Fatimadevi English School, established in 1953, is one of the oldest educational institutions in the Malad Suburb of Mumbai. Malad East also has very old Hanuman temple its opposite Malad cooperative hsg. Soc.. Lots of great minds have graduated from this institution. Children's Academy school has track record of maintaining 100% passing success at SSC board results and is also among the Top 10 best schools in the north - Hindustan Times. the most posh locality of malad east is Upper Govind Nagar, It has HDFC BANK, AXIS BANK, DOMINOS and has jugilal poddar high School, also saloon X, famous resident buildings like upvan, sahyadri, Panchvati Gardens and Madhuban are located here. Rani Sati Marg (previously known as Quarry Road) stretches malad East station to national Highway. It is highly populated with Marwadis, Malads oldest settlers Ramnarayan Ghanshyamdas Saraf family has been known for its philanthropic heart. Malad is fast becoming an IT HUB with many BPOs opening their facilities. There are at least 7 malls and the largest of them is Infinity Mall. There is a rare holy relic of Mother Mary that is on display at St Peter's Jacobite Church, also called the Soonoro Church at Mith Chowky near Orlem. The relic, a piece of fabric believed to be part of the girdle worn by Mother Mary, is on view between September 1 and 8. The relic draws thousands of worshipers. The relic, also called a Soonoro or belt, was brought to Kerala from Syria in 1982 by the head of the Orthodox faith, Ignatius Zakka I. The Malad relic is a piece of that Soonoro. The main artery of Malad Western side is the Marve Road that starts from S.V road is intersected by the linking road and finishes up to Madh Island Lands End. From this end you just need to cross by Ferry to reach Versova in minutes. You can find famous places that are on this road like the beautiful Laxmi Narayan Temple built by Dongre Maharaj, Orlem Church, D'Souza Market popularly known as Orlem Market, Link Road, Mith Chowki, Malad Fire Station, Malvani intersection, St. Anthony's Church, INS Hamla of Navy for Training in Bridge building and Radar, this place is also called as an eye of Mumbai, Marve Beach (from here you can ferry to Essel World or Manori Beach), Erangal Beach (famous for film shootings), a 15th Century old Portuguese Church, 5 star Hotel 'The Resort' at Aksa Beach and Madh Island where there is a large fishing village and an old settlement of the Koli community. Orlem is region of significant Catholic population, and one of the main regions of Catholic dominance in Mumbai. A few prominent schools in the region are St. Anne's High School, Carmel of St. Joseph's High School (a girl's school run by nuns of the convent), St. Joseph's High School, Witty International School,Shree Nutan Vidya Mandir English High School, Navjivan Vidyalaya High School(Malad East) Children's Academy (Malad East), Ryan's International School and Fatima Devi (Malad East). Malad also has a significant Sikh population. Most Sikh Families live in the Evershine nagar, second largest population is in Malvani and Jankalyan Nagar. There are Gurdwara's(Sikh Temple) at Malad (W), Evershine Nagar and Malvani no 1. Free langar (Meal) is served on Sunday mornings at the Gurdwara's. The Malvani locality holds a significant Muslim population. It was the worst hit region during the 92-93 riots. It also has a church. On the north side of Malvani there is a huge industrial area called as Charkop. The people living in these areas are mostly Maharashtrians, Christians, Sikhs, Gujaratis and Marwadis. These areas are Adarsh Nagar, Jankalyan Nagar, Evershine Nagar, Orlem Areas (Lourdes Colony and Tank Lane), Mamlatdar Wadi, Liberty Garden, Ramchandra lane. Liberty Garden is one of the oldest parks in Malad. It is open for the general public and is maintained by Brahma Kumaris- a spiritual organisation which is headquartered in Mount Abu in Rajasthan. There are 2 schools nearby Liberty Garden, viz., Sant Tukaram Salvation English High School and Dayanand school. The famous festivals celebrated in Malad are Navratri, Diwali, Christmas and Ganpati. SNDT women's college is located near the post office at Ramchandra lane. Ramnarayan Saraf Udyan is catering to large number of people, its a municipal garden located near sub way and railway tracks. Education Schools in Malad are either "Municipal Schools" (run by the BMC) or Private schools (run by trusts or individuals), which in some cases receive financial aid from the government. The schools are affiliated either with the Maharashtra State Board (MSBSHSE), the All-India Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) or the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) boards. Marathi or English is the usual language of instruction. Beaches The beaches Aksa, Erangal and Marve are within accessible distance from Malad. Other water fronts in this area are Dana Paani, Madh Island & Madh Fort, Manori Beach, Kileshwar Fort, Marve Beach -(Which has a ferry Service to Manori). Aksa Beach is approx 10 km from Malad Train Station & Madh is at 14 km. bh Category:Malad